From PC World:

As expected, Apple will begin offering rental movies through iTunes starting today, and Jobs says there will be more than 1000 films available by the end of February. With a decent broadband connection, the movies will start playing only 30 seconds after purchase. You'll have 30 days to start watching it, and after you start, you have 24 hours to finish watching it.

Renting a library title will cost $2.99, new releases will be $3.99. Jobs says the service already has 100 HD releases, which cost a dollar more each.

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006299.html

Apple's technical specs indicate that HD movie rentals will use the H.264 codec at up to 5 Mbps bitrate, at max. resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels (24 fps) or 540 x 960 pixels (30 fps).

http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

Some folks' high-speed broadband can deliver 5 Mbps, but mine is challenged to do even 1 Mbps. If that means a 10-hour download for a 2-hour movie, I would have to pass.

Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of Fox, reportedly said during his presentation that DVDs will still be with us for awhile. I haven't seen the exact transcript of his remarks, though.

That's cool. Can you buy HD movies from itunes yet. I checked what is says under "format" and it says "widescreen" on most movies. Any word on when we'll be able to get 1080p movies for purchase on itunes. good thing i never got the apple TV.

The 720 x 1280 pixel images quality as HD. Offering 1080p format would require twice the bitrate, or 10 Mbps. Very few households have broadband service that fast.

This is helpful: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/16/hands-on-with-itunes-movie-rentals-quirky-and-restrictive-but/

I think they are charging too much for the rentals. If the movies were a couple bucks maybe I would use the service, but $4 is more than the rental stores in my area. I'll pass for now.
Jon

I think they are charging too much for the rentals. If the movies were a couple bucks maybe I would use the service, but $4 is more than the rental stores in my area. I'll pass for now.
Jon

At current gasoline prices, how much does it cost you to drive to the store and back? How much is your time worth, as in, standing in line at the store during busy periods?

I am positively salivating at the opportunity to use my AppleTV for more things than I could before. I don't rent a lot of movies so this business model is perfect for me.

-gb-

That's cool. Can you buy HD movies from itunes yet. I checked what is says under "format" and it says "widescreen" on most movies. Any word on when we'll be able to get 1080p movies for purchase on itunes. good thing i never got the apple TV.

HD movies can only be rented directly on AppleTV so I guess it's not such a good thing after all that you didn't get one.

-gb-

The movies they are renting (simpson, Super Bad) are GREAT movies, why can you only rent them on itunes and not buy them? Strange.